Australia’s Sixth Periodic Report: Parallel Report

Submission Date: 9 January 2026

The Law Council of Australia represents the Australian legal profession at the national level. As part of its mission to uphold the rule of law, the Law Council promotes compliance with Australia’s international human rights obligations, including under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR),¹ which Australia ratified in 1976.²

This submission, made in advance of the 2026 State Party dialogue with Australia, builds on the Law Council’s recent submission to the Fourth Cycle Universal Periodic Review of Australia (UPR submission).³ That submission addressed several issues relevant to the mandate of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights—highlighting in particular the need for Australia to adopt a federal Human Rights Act, the crisis state of Australia’s child justice system, and the over-incarceration of First Nations Australians—and should be considered alongside this submission.

The purpose of this submission is to identify for the Committee, from the perspective of the legal profession, economic, social and cultural rights issues currently facing Australia. Those issues include:the ongoing need for a federal Human Rights Act;

• funding for legal assistance services;
• the human rights implications of climate change;
• housing and homelessness policies;
• business and human rights;
• rights protections for First Nations Australians;
• piecemeal reform of anti-discrimination laws;
• policy relating to asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants, and
• further issues identified by Royal Commissions of inquiry in recent years.

The Law Council thanks members of its National Human Rights Committee, its Business and Human Rights Committee and its Equal Opportunity Committee, as well as the Law Society of New South Wales and Law Society of South Australia, for their input into this submission.

^{1 Opened for signature 16 December 1966, 993 UNTS 3 (entered into force 3 January 1976).
2 [1976] ATS 5 (entered into force for Australia 10 March 1976).
3 Law Council, Submission to the Fourth Cycle Universal Periodic Review of Australia, 16 July 2025.}

Last Updated on 27/01/2026

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